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Talk:A Friend in Ferdinand/@comment-4031764-20170726235812
Rating: 9.8/10 This is a long comment, so it's here! Alright, here I am again and let's start this off with some general things. First off, in my opinion Misty Island Rescue ''is joint-worst special of the entire franchise and probably one of the worst productions in the history of Thomas the Tank Engine. In addittion, part of my displeasure for the aforementioned episode is the inclusion of the titular characters in this episode; Bash, Dash and Ferdinard. They are the most one-dimensional characters ever, with little persona to speak of (can't think of even one sentence to describe them). Even worse, their antics completely drive me mad. Their work is dangerous (throwing logs) and yet they seem to enjoy it when in reality, there would've been at least a couple fatalities (both engines and people, although people have never been seen) in each visit to Misty Island. To top that off, they really serve no purpose, not only to the series but also the railway. What's their role? In the Railway Series, each engine has a distinct and unique role which helps drive a story. (For example, Thomas's job is working on the line running from Knapford to Ffarquhar. ''Tank Engine Thomas Again ''takes place solely on Thomas's Branch Line and is a great book in my view. Even today, some of the best Thomas-centered episodes take place on his Branch Line. ''Thomas' Shortcut, Thomas and the Emergency Cable, Thomas the Quarry Engine, Thomas the Babysitter, etc.) The Logging Locos don't have that. They've been poorly developed and interestingly enough where only ever utilized when Sharon Miller penned the episode. Ironic? Coincidence? Displeasure for the characters among other writers? Search me. I feel they were needlessly featured throughout Season 15 and they have rightfully been shunted aside as of Brenner's takeover as Head Writer. Their mention The Way She Does It ''was mostly for humour and honestly as of now I can't think of anything that will convince the Writing Team to bring them back as they already have a strong character base on Sodor, three different railways, foreign engines and plenty of new characters coming into the fleet each year. But today, I let this aside because it would be extremely and I emphasize, 'extremely 'to judge this story solely 'cos it features Logging Locos. That said, you have managed to amend a lot and I repeat ''a lot ''of the mistakes Miller and her team did when developing MIR. First off, you've gave Misty Island a purpose. Bash and Dash aren't annoying and they don't complete their sentences (which is extremely unnatural, by the way; can't think of anyone who does that) and if I remember correctly, Ferdinard only coined "That's right" like once, maybe? Thank you. That was amazing. Then, the story worked alright especially Thomas and Toby's roles. The way Bash and Dash learned their lesson was great and essentially it was one of their character faults. Glad you fixed that. And overall the story worked alright. Honestly, I can see you did your absolutely best, over 100% of you capability to make the Logging Locos bearable. And you suceeded. Doesn't change my opinion from the first paragraph, but this episode was good with the reworking of characters. From a lot of this, I can infer why Brenner and his team have decided to the let the Logging Locos and Misty Island to rest. There's just too much re-imagining that would need to be done and frankly, there's already a good enough established character base on Sodor for them to work with. There's a great variety of locations on Sodor that can be used, all the characters have their own distinctive role and through that, good-quality stories can be brought to our screens. MIR is something that NEVER have been greenlighted for production but this was not entirely Miller's fault, rather the executives focusing more on all the $$$ they get from the merch and not realising that the stories were horrendous and more often not even suitable for the intended age-range. Characters were introduced were introduced with little purpose. (I never get exposed to Rosie's role in ''Thomas and the Birthday Mail) The morals were bad, dangerous stunts, even hints at racism and Nitrogen's top-notch animation and Hartshrone's outstanding music was just not enough to save the series. Of course, we know the rest and all the changes that have happened since then and the return of quality stories that hit a high-point during the 70th anniversary with The Adventure Begins, Season 19 and Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure and I think the twentieth season is probably the best season since Brenner was appointed Head Writer. Sorry this has been long and 'cause of that, the rating's at the top so you don't have to read all this! But I couldn't do this review without all that exposition. Just know that if anyone rates this episode below an 9 'solely ''cause of the Logging Locos, come to me. We'll talk it out with whomever. Anyways, gone are those days and now we're all looking forward to Journey Beyond Sodor! Excellent work and I'll see you soon!